Samsung 840 Evo 1TB.. Should I get it?

[Carfax83]

Now that the price/capacity ratio for SSDs is getting very close to HDD territory, I am seriously considering upgrading to a large capacity SSD to replace my RAID 0 raptors.

The Samsung 840 Evo 1TB is the main one I am considering to buy. The reviews were ecstatic as far as I could tell, and the drive seems to have no real weaknesses for end consumers....or none that I could tell.

But since I'm a n00b when it comes to SSDs, I want to hear some opinions first ^_^

 

[CakeMonster]

It's a great and cheap SSD. Samsung really outdid themselves with the EVOs. The only reason I'm not upgrading yet is that I'm awaiting SATA Express which will probably arrive in less then a year. I expect new SSDs then, but even if they just re-release current SSDs with support, they will perform better. But, there's still some time to wait, and the question if you will actually notice the difference in real life use...

 

[Blain]

Now that the price/capacity ratio for SSDs is getting very close to HDD territory...

How can you say that with a straight face?

 

[Carfax83]

It's a great and cheap SSD. Samsung really outdid themselves with the EVOs. The only reason I'm not upgrading yet is that I'm awaiting SATA Express which will probably arrive in less then a year. I expect new SSDs then, but even if they just re-release current SSDs with support, they will perform better. But, there's still some time to wait, and the question if you will actually notice the difference in real life use...

SATA express? Is that a new interface standard? Why do they keep bumping up the speed when current SSDs can't even fully saturate 6GB/s...unless you're using them in a RAID array?

I could hang onto my raptors for another year if I wanted to. With super-fetch enabled and 16GB of memory plus an overclocked 3930K and Windows 8's efficiency, my OS performance is already very snappy. Computer takes about 16 seconds or so to boot.

I don't really think I'd see a huge performance impact from going SSD in day to day operations. Where I think SSDs would help is during gaming, when data is being loaded in the background. With my raptors, I sometimes get a few hitches in certain games which can disrupt gameplay due to that background streaming.

After the data has loaded the hitching stops though.. But as games keep getting bigger and bigger and all of them using streaming technology, I think SSDs will be a necessity as they load data so much faster.

 

[Carfax83]

How can you say that with a straight face?

Samsung 840 Evo is significantly less than a dollar per GB..

 

[seitur]

Samsung 840 Evo is significantly less than a dollar per GB..

That is nowhere near HDD price per GB and it's not 'significantly less'. For 120GB drive is even more than 1$.

 

[Carfax83]

That is nowhere near HDD price per GB and it's not 'significantly less'. For 120GB drive is even more than 1$.

I wasn't really talking about all SSDs, only the Samsung Evo 1TB model. I probably should have been more specific with my original statement.

A 600GB raptor on Newegg goes for 210 right now, or 35 cents a gigabyte. A Samsung 840 Evo 1TB goes for 629.55, or 63 cents a gigabyte.

That's close enough for me, and the Samsung Evo has added benefits in terms of performance, energy consumption and reliability over the Raptor which can justify the cost per gigabyte increase.

 

[Blain]

A 1TB WD goes for about $90, miles away from $0.63 per.
That's just not close enough for me to say, "price/capacity ratio for SSDs is getting very close to HDD"

 

[Jabrono]

I have the 250GB Samsung as my OS drive and a 120GB Samsung PROthat I used to have the OS on. To be honest, i don't see much real world performance difference between the two drives even with RAPID mode engaged on the EVO. Obviosuly the benchmarks favour the EVO by a wide margin but again, I don't notice this day to day.

I keep all my games on a WD 1TB Black so I can't comment on load times. With games reaching 25+ GB installs neither SSD has the storage capacity for my Steam library and since I often take several months to complete any given game while playing several at the same time, uninstalling after play through isn't really a viable option for me. With 1TB of space on an SSD, I would have no problems keeping Steam on the SSD.

Outlook including Office 2010 and PSE 11 are all very snappy and load much faster on the SSD than before on the WD.

Overall, the upgrades were positive with no real negative experiences. Go for it!

 

[seitur]

I wasn't really talking about all SSDs, only the Samsung Evo 1TB model. I probably should have been more specific with my original statement.

A 600GB raptor on Newegg goes for 210 right now, or 35 cents a gigabyte. A Samsung 840 Evo 1TB goes for 629.55, or 63 cents a gigabyte.

That's close enough for me, and the Samsung Evo has added benefits in terms of performance, energy consumption and reliability over the Raptor which can justify the cost per gigabyte increase.

You wrote yourself:
"Now that the price/capacity ratio for SSDs is getting very close to HDD territory".

So I am merely responding to what you wrote yourself.
Yeah you should be more specific.

Raptor is complete and utter waste of money.

So while EVO may be 2x in the price per GB than Raptor then:
1) almost 2x the price is nowhere near I would call close
2) that is not SSDs being close to HDDs.

Valid comparision of HDD vs SDD price would be:

1) Average 120GB SSD between 1.0$ and 1.3$ per GB.
vs.
2) Average dekstop HDD like i.e. WD Blue 1TB - ~0.15$ per GB.

Not even remotely close.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

I seized a good deal opportunity and bought a large SSD--an 840 Pro 512GB--a few months back. Great decision! I still have a 2TB WD Red for media files, but the 840 Pro is more than enough for my needs for the next few years. It's nice not having to worry about running out of space like you do with a smalled drive.

 

[Carfax83]

Raptor is complete and utter waste of money.

I wouldn't say raptors are a waste of money, at least not when I bought them years ago. Before I bought the raptors, I used Western Digital black editions in RAID 0, and the difference in performance was definitely noticeable in boot times, launch and load times etcetera, plus you get a 5 year warranty. Back then SSDs were very expensive for the capacity (a 1TB model would have cost well over a 1K back then), and I'm not the sort of person to buy a smaller capacity model just to put my OS on it. With superfetch enabled, a good defrag program like PerfectDisk, a fast CPU and a large amount of memory, Windows 7 was already super snappy as most apps and programs I use are cached to a certain extent; Windows 8 is even better in that regard.

Buying that same raptor today, or even the faster 1TB model would be a waste of money I agree. SSDs have left HDDs in the dust, and the price per gigabyte factor is now well under a dollar for SOME models.

Anyway, I decided to buy the Samsung Evo 1TB. I found an even lower price on the web, at 60 cents a gigabyte

 

[alkemyst]

Big data can't afford SSD's across the board.

Most would do well with a simple SSD even if not the most epic one.

 

[aigomorla]

an SSD more reliable then a raptor?

not unless it was a SLC SSD... as a raptor is a enterprise class drive to start with.

A SSD Faster then a raptor? Heck yeah it is.... and by a lot...

 

[defy]

Now that the price/capacity ratio for SSDs is getting very close to HDD territory, I am seriously considering upgrading to a large capacity SSD to replace my RAID 0 raptors.

The Samsung 840 Evo 1TB is the main one I am considering to buy. The reviews were ecstatic as far as I could tell, and the drive seems to have no real weaknesses for end consumers....or none that I could tell.

But since I'm a n00b when it comes to SSDs, I want to hear some opinions first ^_^

If you have need for the 1tb space, the Samsung EVO is definitely the one to get. On Amazon it's running at $629.99, and recently went for around ~$617 for 1tb.

Then again, your only other option in the 1tb range is the Crucial M500 - which doesn't seem to compete with the EVO.

 

[dstevod]

Now that the price/capacity ratio for SSDs is getting very close to HDD territory, I am seriously considering upgrading to a large capacity SSD to replace my RAID 0 raptors.

The Samsung 840 Evo 1TB is the main one I am considering to buy. The reviews were ecstatic as far as I could tell, and the drive seems to have no real weaknesses for end consumers....or none that I could tell.

But since I'm a n00b when it comes to SSDs, I want to hear some opinions first ^_^

The Samsung 840 series seems to be the most highly-rated line of general purpose drives in the Anandtech tests/reviews of late.

My next machine will have one, but no personal experience of them yet.

S

 

[BFG10K]

I'm currently weighing between the Crucial 960GB and the Samsung 1TB. I might wait a little more to see if prices drop even more.

 

[Blain]

Prices WILL drop.

 

[Topweasel]

SATA express? Is that a new interface standard? Why do they keep bumping up the speed when current SSDs can't even fully saturate 6GB/s...unless you're using them in a RAID array?

I could hang onto my raptors for another year if I wanted to. With super-fetch enabled and 16GB of memory plus an overclocked 3930K and Windows 8's efficiency, my OS performance is already very snappy. Computer takes about 16 seconds or so to boot.

I don't really think I'd see a huge performance impact from going SSD in day to day operations. Where I think SSDs would help is during gaming, when data is being loaded in the background. With my raptors, I sometimes get a few hitches in certain games which can disrupt gameplay due to that background streaming.

After the data has loaded the hitching stops though.. But as games keep getting bigger and bigger and all of them using streaming technology, I think SSDs will be a necessity as they load data so much faster.

Actually SSD manufacturers are doing what they can to not saturate the Sata 6GB/s. All they need is like one more set of Nand and another internal controller and boom we would be seeing read speeds of 750+ MB/s.

 

[nanaki333]

i've been eyeing this bad boy up for awhile now. my m500 is noticeably slower loading games when my wife and i are playing something. her 360GB corsair is a lot more zippy.

 

[TridenT]

Ok, first, guys. I don't know where the hell you're buying hard drives from (BestBuy?) but you can get a 2TB drive for $90. ($.045/gig) The 840 EVO 1TB is at least $.60/gig. More than a factor of 10 in price difference.

SSD prices are not coming down in price significantly. They still are hovering around $.75-$1.5/gig.

 

[Medikit]

I would purchase it if you really need 1 TB and you think you can afford it.

If you have any high interest loans (ie Credit Card balance) then I think your need to examine your priorities and reconsider this purchase.

 

[alkemyst]

Ok, first, guys. I don't know where the hell you're buying hard drives from (BestBuy?) but you can get a 2TB drive for $90. ($.045/gig) The 840 EVO 1TB is at least $.60/gig. More than a factor of 10 in price difference.

SSD prices are not coming down in price significantly. They still are hovering around $.75-$1.5/gig.

SSD is falling quick IMHO. Way faster than original HDD's.

 

[Topweasel]

i've been eyeing this bad boy up for awhile now. my m500 is noticeably slower loading games when my wife and i are playing something. her 360GB corsair is a lot more zippy.

Then you have something configured wrong. The only Corsair that is going to be really competitive with the M500 is there Sandforce SSD's and even then I doubt you can tell the difference between 25-30MB/s reads. My guess is yours is hooked up to Sata 2 which caps out at about 270MBs.

 

[YBS1]

So how well do these 1tb Evo's do without the benefit of trim? I just grabbed two of them and plan to run them RAID 0 on an X79 platform. Didn't really look into it much beforehand but I would imagine they would fare ok considering how much total space would be available and the amount that is likely set aside as non provisioned space.